Ireland the Brave
by douevnkiwi
Summary: Ireland finally stands up to Russia, who has been bullying her beloved Estonia. ((EstoniaxOC for my daarrling friend Erin))


"Russia...stop." Ireland's eyes were cold and calculating. She'd finally snapped, had enough of Russia's tormenting ways towards us-the Baltics. My heart was pounding, about to beat out of it's chest. She was going to get killed for sure. "Ireland...please, stop!" I whisper-hissed to her. "Don't do this!" I bit my lip. I knew exactly what Russia could do when he got mad, and I certainly did not want my Ireland facing that.

"What did you just say to me?" Russia's blue eyes glared into her, and she glared back just as defiantly. "I said, _stop bullying my friends." _She stood up straight, and even though she did she barely reached Russia's shoulder. She was often teased for her short height, but to me she was just the right height to cuddle.

Today, however, was not a day for cuddling.

"Oh, so they have a friend now? How lovely. How come you boys never told me about this?" Russia turned to look at Lithuania, Latvia, and myself, smiling openly, with anger hidden in his eyes. But that was how Russia worked- he lured you in, then he showed his true intentions, which were always sadistic. "well..M-Mr. Russia, y-you see..we...well we were always busy..living with you..and, uh, having a good time! We d-didn't want to stop h-having fun to tell you.." Lithuania struggled to come up with an answer to Russia's question. It was a noble effort- I myself was too scared of his wrath to attempt to speak. "No! You never _have fun_ with Russia! You're always so fucking scared of him you can't breathe when you're around him!" Ireland screamed, her loud voice echoing around the school hallway. "Ireland, no, stoppit! You don't know what you're doing!" I growled.

"Scared? Of little old me?" Russia's eyes were flitting back and forth from Latvia, Lithuania, and I. I could just tell he was thinking something over, something important, something that required a lot of thought. "You silly boys! Zere is nothing to be afraid of!" Russia's voice was silky smooth and he sauntered over to Lithuania and myself, draping his arms around our shoulders. Lithuania chuckled nervously, but I remained quiet and stared down at the floor. That seemed to work better than talking most times. " 'Zere is nothing to be afraid of' my ass!" Ireland glared at Russia, and she stomped forward and shoved him. I couldn't believe my eyes- I knew she could be strong, but Russia nearly toppled over from the force that she exerted. Latvia grabbed onto my arm, tight.

Instead of getting mad, Russia only smiled. "You are a strong one." He adjusted his long scarf rather carefully. "One day you will learn to control your strength." Russia leaned forward and _rustled Ireland's hair._ Honestly, I thought she was going to totally wig out. She hates it when people do that. But she remained quiet, glaring at him still. "Well, boys, I shall see you later, no?" Russia was about to go off to someplace- lord knows where- when Ireland stopped him. "Apologize,"She growled. Her blue-green eyes were locked onto Russia's own blue ones, and she held herself as if she weren't only five feet tall. Russia chuckled."Apologize?" He raised an eyebrow-it looked like it was about to escape off of his head, teehee.

"You heard me!" Ireland's voice became a tad bit shrill as she placed her hands on her hips just so. "Apologize to them." She pointed to all of us- Liet, Latvia, and myself. She was really pushing her luck here..honestly, I was surprised Russia hadn't beaten her with a sunflower by now. "Apologize? For what?" Russia's tone held a hint of disbelief, and his eyebrow went up even higher. I could imagine his thoughts- how dare she talk to me this way, I am the prince of Sheba! Or some unbelievable nonsense along those lines. Russia's ego almost matched that of that heathen Prussia. I pushed my glasses up my nose- I was ready to intervine.

"For making them suffer, day after day," Ireland's voice dropped to a whisper, and I glanced over at her. "I can't fix my own problems, but I can fix theirs," Her voice became stronger, and she smiled proudly. "So apologize." Ireland stuck her nose up in the air, but Russia didn't seem to be mad at all.  
Which, to be honest, kind of freaked me out.

Russia chuckled once more. "Well..since you seem so bent on making me apologize..." -he stopped to fix a tiny malfunction on his jacket- "I'm sorry, boys," He turned to all of us, but his eyes were staring right at me. Did he know about Ireland and I? My heart started racing- we'd decieded to keep our relationship a secret, there was no way he could know. Not even Liet and Latvia knew about it.

"For whatever it was I did, anyways," Russia rolled his eyes. "I'll see you around, then?" He smiled, but when he did, there was a trace of something new...genuine friendliness? Was that even legit? I didn't think it was..but then again, it did look pretty convincing. "Yeah. Later." Ireland sent him her signature glare. Russia nodded once in acknowledgement and skipped off, probably to beat school children with sunflowers or something uplifting like that.

As soon as Russia was out of sight, Ireland threw herself into my arms. I caught her gently, but of course I stumbled backwards a bit(us nerds are not that strong, you know!) "You were so brave," I whispered in her ear, and waved Latvia and Liet off to go do whatever as long as it wasn't near...here.

"Oh, Estonia, I was so nervous!" Ireland was breathless, and she let go of me. Her eyes were twinkling with delight and for once in a long time I smiled. "I know." I grinned at her. I was so proud of her. God knows I could never stand up to Russia like that. "I feel totally awesomely awesome! I'm happy and just like really...well..happy!" Ireland started jumping up and down- she switched from angry rebel to charming schoolgirl in seconds. "Shhh...I know." I bent down and kissed her lips gently. Today was the beginning of my new life. One without pain, one without fear.

_But one with Ireland._


End file.
